The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1887-08-18
Taft Says Not !
THE DECISION AGAINST THE JACKSON
COUNTY MINERS!

GENTLEMEN-I have received tn
arguments and the printed evidenc
which you have submitted to me a
umpire. The question, as I understand
the case, is whether under all the cir
cumstances which the evidence dis
closes the rule Of miners wages il
Jackson County shall be so changed
that in the sub-districts of Wellstor
and Jackson the miners shall receive
five cents, and in the sub-district o.
Coalton ten cents more per ton thar
is paid to miners in the Hooking Val
ley District. The Hooking Valley
District, consisting Of the counties o1
Hooking, Perry and Athens, is No.
Of the Ohio mining districts, and Jack.
son County, including the three sub.
districts of Wellston, Jackson and
Coalton, constitutes the seventh min.
ing district Of Ohio. 1t appears from
the evidence that from the beginning
Of mining coal in jackson County
down to 1880 the rule of prices fol
mining in the First and Seventh Dis
tricts was the same. In 1880 the
miners in the Coalton sub-district OF
Jackson County demanded that there
should be allowed them, on account
of the thinness of their mines and
greater difficulties Of mining, five
cents per ton more than was paid in
the Hooking Valley District and in
the other sub-districts of Jackson Dis
trict, and they struck for this advance.
The operators yielded, and all parties
concerned appear to have acquiesced
in that difference in their favor from
that time to the present. With that
exception, the rule OF prices has re-
manned the same in these two districts
down to the year 1887.
In May Of 1888, at a convention of
the miners Of the State held in Col
umbus, in view Of the struggle Of the
different districts to get the advantage
Of each other in the cost Of coal, was
adopted the following resolution, viz. ::
"Whereas, The prices for mining in
the different districts Of this State
having adjusted themselves, after years
Of experience, upon basis which both
miners and operators Of mines ac-
knowledge to be fair basis; and
whereas, the indiscriminate fight car
ried on by the miners to advance and
the operators to reduce the price of
mining is alike injurious to miners
and operators, therefore,
Resolved, That we recognize exist
ing prices as basis for future action"
In June, 1884, the miners and OPP
orators Of the Coalton sub-dlstrict of
jackson County came to settlement
Of their differences on several points,
and reduced their agreement to writ
ing, and had it executed by committees
assuming to represent the respective
parties. It is not necessary to give
copy of that instrument, further than
to give the first of the seven rules
adopted by it, viz: "Rule 1.-The
price paid for mining shall be five
cents per ton above Hooking Valley
prices The question submitted to
me has no reference to the absolute
price to be paid in either district for
mining, but only how much, if any
thing, shall be paid per ton for mining
in Jackson District more than in the
Hooking Valley District. | have said
that the price Of mining in the First
and Seventh Districts has been the
same except the advance Of five cents
to the miners of Coalton sub-district
made in 1880. It is claimed, however,
that there is an exception. In the
year 1884, after the long strike Of
Hooking Valley, there was reduction
of wages to fifty cents per ton, and it
has been claimed on behalf of the mi
ners that the reduction in Hooking
Valley was to be forty cents per ton,
while the reduction in Jackson was
only to fifty cents per ton. The evi-
dence on the point Of this exception is
somewhat conflicting. There is no
claim that in jackson the rate was
ever lower than fifty cents, but that
inequality, if it ever existed, was but
for very short time, and is impossi-
BILE to find from the evidence that the
Jackson miners and operators recog-
nized any difference between the prices
they were paying and receiving and
those which were paid by the opera
tors in Hooking Valley.
In the month of November, 1885,
the miners of Hooking Valley de-
manded an increase Of ten cents per
ton, raising the price to which it had
been reduced after the great strike OF
'S4, from fifty to sixty cents per ton.
The question was submitted to arbl-
tration, and the arbitrators not agree
ing Judge Thurman was chosen UNI
pire. His award was in favor of the
miners, fixing the rule of wages Of the
miners in Hooking Valley at sixty
cents. That rule was followed by the
miners and operators in Jackson
County, with the five cents difference
in favor Of the miners in the Coalton
sub-district. There seems to have been
an understanding among the miners
and operators Of Jackson County that
when there was difficulty in the Hook
ing Valley the miners in Jackson
County should work on till the diff
Guilty vas settled, and then follow the
rule adopted in the Hooking Valley,
with the five cents in favor of the mi
ners of the Coalton sub-district as be-
fore stated. 1t is claimed on behalf
of the operators that the agreement to
which | have referred was perpetual,
and therefore that we should go no
further, but hold the question as to
the relative prices of mining in the
two districts settled.
1t is true that there is no express
limit in time in the agreement of 1884
nor in the resolution of 1888. But
taking into consideration the fact that
these parties are not incorporated and
are subject to constant changes in
their membership, and that the formal
written agreement of 1884 in terms
applied only to the miners Of the
Coalton sub-district, do not think
Il, nI II, aoc..oo,,,or,t nE SQl or tha rpS-